August 5, 2017

GOP Would Rather Pass No Tax Reform At All Than Endanger Tax Cuts For the Rich

This is from a couple of days ago:

Hmmm. What’s to object to here?

  • Regular order allows tax reform to be permanent, and Republicans have been pulling their hair out to make sure their tax plan is permanent. So it can’t be that.
  • Republicans hate budget deficits, so surely it’s not that.
  • No one wants to increase the taxes of the middle class, so it can’t be that either.

That only leaves one possibility: they object to the Democratic demand that a tax plan not cut the taxes of the rich. That’s the one thing they can’t abide, even if it means passing a plan via reconciliation with only Republican votes. Of course, this endangers everything, since it means they can’t afford to lose more than three votes in the Senate. It also guarantees that their tax cuts will be temporary.

But that’s where we’re at. Republicans would rather run the risk of passing no tax reform at all than of agreeing to tax reform that doesn’t benefit the wealthy. Is anyone surprised?

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